“A data breach is an incident in which sensitive, protected or confidential data has potentially been viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so.” (“What is a Data Breach?”) Cyber Criminals can potentially hack cars, phones, computers, bank accounts and even baby monitors. (Murdock) With all of these things under attack, it can be hard to escape without any personal information stolen. One major data breach took place in 2014 with the Yahoo company. At least 500 million user accounts were part of the breach, giving any personal information associated with the account to the hacker. (Fiegerman) Yahoo was working with law enforcement to investigate the breach, but after 2 months, the crime still had not been solved. (Fiegerman) In this instance, the government could have been involved in regulating the activity of Yahoo users, ultimately preventing the data breach from occurring in the first place. Victims of data breaches like these suddenly feel unsafe when using the internet. According to Walker, “one in six consumers believe that they will be a victim of another data breach in the next twelve months.” This lingering sense of risk prevents citizens from feeling completely secure when accessing an account containing personal information. One of the government’s responsibilities is protecting the American people, regulating the internet is just one possible option that would assist in spreading a sense of much needed safety across the
“A data breach is an incident in which sensitive, protected or confidential data has potentially been viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so.” (“What is a Data Breach?”) Cyber Criminals can potentially hack cars, phones, computers, bank accounts and even baby monitors. (Murdock) With all of these things under attack, it can be hard to escape without any personal information stolen. One major data breach took place in 2014 with the Yahoo company. At least 500 million user accounts were part of the breach, giving any personal information associated with the account to the hacker. (Fiegerman) Yahoo was working with law enforcement to investigate the breach, but after 2 months, the crime still had not been solved. (Fiegerman) In this instance, the government could have been involved in regulating the activity of Yahoo users, ultimately preventing the data breach from occurring in the first place. Victims of data breaches like these suddenly feel unsafe when using the internet. According to Walker, “one in six consumers believe that they will be a victim of another data breach in the next twelve months.” This lingering sense of risk prevents citizens from feeling completely secure when accessing an account containing personal information. One of the government’s responsibilities is protecting the American people, regulating the internet is just one possible option that would assist in spreading a sense of much needed safety across the